Gone mad ?? (It's about a Bavaria)

A

Abel

New Member
Joined
22 May 2006
Messages
10
Location
Somerset
Visit site
Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

Let me first give you my background.
I've been sailing for just under 20 years (although that means little)
Started via dinghy's then worked up to contessas etc
Always been a fan of long keels short rigs
and I've never been in more than a F8/9
Then, I needed a boat for my family..
Looked at Rivals, Moodys and a nice Oyster all in the mid forty foot range
Then I bought a BAVARIA 42......
I couldn't understand the price; everyone told me "you get what you pay for"
So I looked
Sure there are faults
the tanks are secured with foam, glass and wood, no bolts
the toilets have no siphon breaks
the fridge insulation isn't
the cooker is a bit cheap
there's no bilge (about 10" under the floorboards)
Now for the plus points
Selden rig
Sobstad sails
Lewmar winches/hatches
Volvo engine
Raymarine instruments
Whitlock steering (autopilot drive is rated over 60')
They say they've double the lay-up down the centreline so we measured it, 29-30mm
Battery cables 95mm2
Inserts under all deck equipment
Oh, and the bulkheads are all glassed in (I’d been told they weren't)

We went sailing, I was amazed, it popped up to 8kn, 7.5 to windward
We motored across the bay under autopilot, only it wasn't on (RTFM), it held a perfect course
So we tried it under sail F3 beam reach (easy I know), held its course better many other boats I’ve been on (hands off for 2-3 minutes)
Tacking through a short chop she slammed once as she went through the wind, yet not on either tack or motoring to windward

When I started looking, I felt sorry for people with a Bavaria, not a proper boat see

I might change my mind when I cross the channel in a F9, but so far I'm really pleased

So what's the point of this post..

I'm not sure; I just wanted to tell someone my experiences I guess.
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

I think you will find that your views are shared by the vast majority of Bavaria owners and those who have sailed in them. It seems that those who criticise them generally have little or no experience of them and find it hard to believe they provide such excellent value for money!!
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

You make excellent points about the Bav!

Great value for money!

And its worth remembering, a good skipper will get any boat home in virtually any conditions, its all about seamanship and being sensible, regardless of the boat.
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

I have had my bavaria for six years ,from new.it now has 10.000 + Nm on the log
from sweden to Med and back etc. etc. it has some scratches in the gelcoat on one side which i must fill with gelcoat next year (bad judgement mooring single handed in a gale). nothing else much to say about it.
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

No - they are cheap but that does not make them good value for money. They are in fact rubbish...
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

Before anyone gets too hot under the collar, just read his profile. Explains it all.

Wayne
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

:-), looked at HR too, nice but couldn't see where all the money went. Is it nicer, probably, is it £250,000 nicer.. not of my money.
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

Mind you I suppose we should be grateful for an unambigous reply from a Barrister. :-)
My Bav is coming back from the Carib on Wednesday after its transat last year and 5 years of fun from familiy marina hopping to rather more rufty tufty longer passages. Abel, you bought a decent boat, enjoy it!
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

[ QUOTE ]
And its worth remembering, a good skipper will get any boat home in virtually any conditions, its all about seamanship and being sensible, regardless of the boat.

[/ QUOTE ]
You're absolutely right, a superb skipper will always get home no matter what the boat.

Me, I need all the help I can get!
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

Abel,
don't worry about rhinorhino, he is just jealous!

About £100,000 jealous!!!!!!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

Just delivered a brand new HR to Southampton, HR43. For the amount it cost there were far to many faults and the standard of workmanship displayed by HR was not good. If my local car dealer supplied me with a brand new car with the amount of problems, regardless of cost, it would have gone straight back.

On the other hand Transworld in the UK accepted the faults and have put write. I guess at that cost I wouldn't expect there to be any faults!!
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

I'll relay an unbiassed opinion after the Round the Island on 2 June - I'm skippering one, with a crew shakedown the weekend before . BUT young Abel, you undermine your case by overstatement: those sails, winches and instruments are someone's choice, not necessarily standard kit. So I shouldn't blame them for the rubbish cooker - even that could have been changed.
Anyway, watch this space . . .
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

Rhinos and Barristers ?

short sighted, thick skinned and always ready to charge..... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

"BUT young Abel, you undermine your case by overstatement: those sails, winches and instruments are someone's choice, not necessarily standard kit"

All the equipment listed is standard and I'm not trying to make a case, just giving my opinion on the boat.
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

I bought my Bavaria 37 (used) at the end of last year. I am delighted with her, but then according to a couple of the posts "I would be". Build quality is very good except in a very few places that don't show and for the most part don't matter... they used steel staples to secure the boards under the berths and some steel screws inside the saloon cupboards. I replaced them during a winter afternoon.

By the way ABEL, I recently had a Raymarine ST6000 Autopilot with Gyro fitted. If that is what you have, then I am not at all surprised that it steers so well.

Simon
 
Re: Gone mad ?? (It\'s about a Bavaria)

In my humble opinion there is not such as a perfect boat. If there was, everybody would buy that and by the laws of the market no others would be existent. Everybody has his own needs, his way of sailing, his budget and above everything else his own taste of looks. What suites somebody as a perfect boat would be for someone else the worst choice. So after that I think that we can only respect the choices that any of us makes for given conditions / situation. If anything else I can recognise in Bavaria that they filled up a certain market providing easier (economically speaking) means of getting to sea, even in the case of professionals that invest in chartering. The success of their approach is supported by the fact that other players try to compete them by offering certain ranges of boats and by stating their value, price, and quality in contrast with Bavs. Others on the other hand, they have not followed and they offer their kinds of boats. It's a free world there and I would avoid "labelling" so easily one's decisions, I could then easily be targeted myself too with words that do not enter the category of good will criticizing...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

I
Massive thanks
Replies
8
Views
451
capnsensible
capnsensible
Irish Rover
Question about Bilge Pumps
Replies
3
Views
239
Irish Rover
Irish Rover

Share this page

Top